Each year, around September, the Jewish feast of Rosh Hashanah is celebrated. The date changes annually on our Western calendar because it's not synchronized with the Hebrew calendar. This observance, along with the others, points to a deeper reality now found in Jesus Christ.
What Is Rosh Hashanah?
Rosh Hashanah literally means “head of the year” and is a two-day celebration of the Jewish New Year. It's observed on the first and second days of the month of Tishri, marking the start of the Jewish civil year. Some Jewish scholars believe it also commemorates the creation of the world and Israel's new beginning after their exodus from Egypt.
The customs for Rosh Hashanah include sounding the shofar (ram’s horn) and eating symbolic foods like apples dipped in honey to represent a sweet new year. For traditional and legalistic Jews, it's also a time of repentance and prayers for forgiveness, beginning in the preceding week. This prepares them for the most important feast, the Feast of Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) nine days later, and then the Feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles) five days after that.
Why Do We Not Celebrate This Feast?
Those called in Christ are not obligated to celebrate the Jewish feasts. As the bride of Christ, why would we return to celebrating a shadow when we have the Person Himself? As Colossians 2:16-17 says, “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” Why hug the picture when we have the real Person, Jesus, who has been raised and now lives in our hearts? All the law, the prophets, and the feasts are carefully and completely fulfilled in Messiah Yeshua. Our focus therefore should be on celebrating Him and His finished work.
The term Rosh Hashanah doesn't even appear in the original Hebrew Old Covenant (Books of the Law). Leviticus 23:24 refers to this day as “a holy convocation, a memorial with the blowing of trumpets,” calling it Zikhron Teru'ah. Numbers 29:1 calls it Yom Teru'ah (Day of blowing the horn). This is where we get the reference, the "Feast of Trumpets."
The traditions and rituals surrounding the feasts have become so burdensome that, as Jesus said, they “make the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do” (Mark 7:13). The law and its festivals were given to Israel to point them to their need for a Savior, not as a means of salvation. They are a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith (Galatians 3:24).
The Prophetic Fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets
The Feast of Trumpets, with its fanfare and call to assembly, finds a powerful fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. This feast, which commemorated a new beginning and was a call to assemble, was not a random act. It was a prophetic sign. In Matthew 24:31, Jesus declares, "And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." This speaks not of a future event we must prepare for, but of the final and ultimate call to assembly of all believers—a gathering that is made possible by Christ's work, not ours.
The "last trump" in 1 Corinthians 15:52 is often linked to the Feast of Trumpets. However, from a New Testament perspective, it refers to the final military trumpet call, a summons signifying that the army is complete and ready for battle. Our assurance doesn't come from waiting for a sound, but from already being His elect. As Ephesians 1:4 states, He "chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love."
The trumpets sounded to announce the arrival of a king or to gather an army. In a spiritual sense, the gospel message—the good news of Jesus's death and resurrection—is the true, ultimate trumpet call. It has already been sounded, heralding the arrival of our King and calling us into His presence and His army. Romans 10:18 says, "But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed: 'Their sound has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.'" This sound is the gospel, which has been calling people from every nation, tribe, and tongue to assemble under the banner of Christ.
Yom Kippur, the Shadow of Atonement
To truly appreciate Jesus's fulfillment of the Day of Atonement, it's essential to understand its historical performance. As commanded in Leviticus 16, the rituals of Yom Kippur were incredibly precise and dramatic, all pointing to a greater reality.
In the tabernacle and, later, the Jerusalem temples, Yom Kippur was the holiest day of the year, a day of fasting and solemnity for the entire nation of Israel. It was the one day when the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, the innermost chamber where God's presence was believed to dwell, to make atonement for the sins of the people. This was a complex, multi-stage ritual:
Preparation and Purification: The high priest first had to purify himself. He would bathe and change into special white linen garments, symbolizing purity and humility, not the ornate robes he wore the rest of the year. This was a vivid reminder that no one, not even the high priest, could approach God without being cleansed.
The Sacrifices: The high priest would then take two goats. One was chosen as the sin offering for the Lord, and the other as the scapegoat. The high priest would sacrifice the first goat and sprinkle its blood inside the Holy of Holies, on and in front of the mercy seat. This act was to atone for the sins of the priests themselves and the entire nation of Israel.
The Scapegoat: The second goat, the scapegoat, was brought forward. The high priest would lay his hands on its head and confess the sins of all the people of Israel, symbolically transferring their transgressions onto the animal. The goat was then led away into the wilderness, where it was released. The idea was that the sins of the people were being carried away and removed from the camp, a tangible picture of divine forgiveness.
This annual ritual was a beautiful but temporary solution. It had to be repeated every year because the blood of animals could never truly take away sin. As the writer of Hebrews explains, these offerings were merely a shadow, a temporary fix that pointed to the ultimate sacrifice to come.
Our Ultimate Atonement
The historical performance of Yom Kippur perfectly sets the stage for the finished work of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 9:11-12 says, "But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood, He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption."
Jesus is the fulfillment of every aspect of Yom Kippur:
He is the High Priest, who didn’t need to atone for His own sins because He was sinless.
He is the sacrifice, the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world. His blood, unlike that of bulls and goats, was perfect and completely effective.
He is the fulfillment of the scapegoat, carrying our sins not into a wilderness but on His own body on the cross, removing them from us forever (Isaiah 53:6).
The annual ritual of Yom Kippur is now obsolete. The veil in the temple, which separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple, was torn from top to bottom at the moment of Jesus's death (Matthew 27:51). This act symbolized that through Christ's sacrifice, the way to God's presence is now open to everyone, not just the high priest on one day a year. We don't need to fast and mourn to prepare for an atonement. We are already right with God, perfected forever by one sacrifice (Hebrews 10:14).
The trumpet has already sounded, the Atonement has already been made, and the way to the Father is forever open. Our celebration is not in an annual feast, but in the constant reality of our redemption and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Those Called-in-Christ and the Shofar
Our focus should be on Jesus and the finished work of the cross, the resounding shofar of His grace echoing in our hearts constantly! We are already right with God because of Jesus!
This brings us to the true meaning of the church. The Greek word used in the Bible, which was incorrectly translated to "church," is actually ekklēsia. It simply means "called out from amongst" the earthly masses. It isn't a building, a denomination, or a religious system. It's you. You are His called-out ones. You are His!
Stay tuned for the next post on Yom Kippur!
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